Trapping Quincy (Caspian and Quincy)

Chapter III - Q and J

The atmosphere is certainly different when I open my eyes this morning. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it. It's already nine in the morning but the whole house is quiet.

I didn't even bother to attempt to finish cleaning up the washrooms after the meeting yesterday or do the laundry like I'm supposed to today. I figure I'm paying enough for my accommodation that is this closet, and no food condition in this pack hell house with all my life savings they took from me. Yeah, I'm salty and petty like that. Surprisingly, nobody comes knocking at my door demanding that I do my usual chores this morning.

The somber atmosphere follows me as I make my way to the bathroom across the hall to brush my teeth and take my shower then back quickly to lock myself in my room again.

"I'm bored," I inform Oliver. It's noon now and I'm feeling very hungry. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do next but I can't think when I'm hungry. "Why is it so quiet today?" I ask Oliver.

A sudden knock on my door makes me jump off my bed. I creep slowly to the door, contemplating whether or not it's wise to open it. I can still feel the Beta's hand around my throat. I had nightmares about it last night.

"Hey, it's me," says a quiet voice through the closed door. Jorden!

I quickly unlock the door and pull it open. "Hi."

His chocolate brown eyes peer down at me from the doorway. "Meet me in Nana's back garden in twenty minutes," he says before he quietly slips away.

I close the door with a click and change from my pajama shorts into a pair of jeans. I put on a grey t-shirt and a pair of white Converse and lastly pull a comb through my straight black hair. I have a small old mirror hanging on the wall across from my bed. I took that mirror from my Nana's old house and hung it there myself. I'm not vain, but a girl needs a mirror.

My green eyes stare back at me from the mirror. People always commented about how unusual and vivid my green eyes are. I always wonder if I got that from my unknown biological father because none of my relatives here has green eyes. I guess that is one of the things in life that I'll never figure out. At least the puffiness around my eyes from crying last night is gone.

I hurry outside because Nana's old house is fifteen minutes walk away from the pack house. Before I step outside, I grab a scarf and wrap it lightly around my neck.

*****

"Hi, J!"

"Hey, Q."

Jorden calls me Q and I call him J. Together, we're Q and J, get it? No? Well...that's okay. I don't understand it either but when a seven-year-old Jorden told a six-year-old me that we're going to be J and Q, I agreed with him wholeheartedly. The six-year-old me thought it was the coolest thing ever. That was until I figured out that I was his sidekick, the one to fetch things for him when we're fighting the evils of the world. I'm nobody's sidekick. We argued about it. Now we're Q and J in my head. In his mind, we're still J and Q.

I survey the garden before me. This used to be my Nana's joy. Nana used to spend hours happily tending to her garden while Jorden and I used to play back here. It's been a couple of months since I last saw it and now it's grown wild. There are weeds among the coneflowers, penstemons, lilies, and black-eyed Susans. Wild grass is growing freely between the tomato, peas, squash, and beets.

Jorden must have seen something in my eyes because he says, "I came to water them once in a while but I'm not good with anything else. Maybe the new owner will be better at it."

"Yeah," I choke out my answer. It's hard to believe that this place is owned by somebody else now. The new owner hasn't moved in yet but I hope they will love and care for this place as much as Nana did.